The Cannabis Market is Still Very Much Open for Business Under President Trump

When former Sen. Jeff Sessions was announced as Trump’s pick for Attorney General, many leftists and even some libertarians cried foul. This would be the end of marijuana legalization, they claimed! Others claimed that he was the big bad racist boogeyman who loved the Klan. The histrionics were almost unbearable.

Nevertheless, their whining and their crying did woefully little to stop the confirmation of Sessions. After he was confirmed, news reports have circulated indicating that the Attorney General under Trump will be focused on taking out serious drug cartels while leaving the recreational marijuana industry relatively unscathed. The U.S. News reports:

Owners of state-legal cannabis businesses say they aren’t particularly concerned about the possibility that Sen. Jeff Sessions, considered by a Senate committee on Tuesday to be attorney general, will seek to crush the multibillion-dollar state-legal industry…

Marijuana possession for any reason outside limited research remains a federal crime and Sessions said at a confirmation hearing earlier this month “I won’t commit to never enforcing federal law.” The same day, Trump spokesman Sean Spicer, however, said that Sessions would be required to follow “the Trump agenda” on marijuana policy.

All the hysteria from the naysayers is going up in smoke! George Soros-funded organizations like the Drug Policy Alliance (DPA) sounded the alarms needlessly, and squandered their credibility as a non-partisan organization going against Trump and Sessions. They are left with egg on their face, but at least serious cannabis reformers know to jettison that disingenuous organization once and for all. Knowledge is power, as they say.

Besides, you didn’t have to be the Amazing Kreskin to read these tea leaves. Anyone who knows Trump and understands his thought process can see that he only picks issues that are big winners. Marijuana prohibition is not a big winner of an issue by any means. The 1980’s are over and done with. In fact, the issue is a big loser. The drug war is hemorrhaging money at an alarming rate, and states are making federal enforcement look silly by openly flouting their laws.

Trump, after all, is a casino owner and reality TV show superstar. It’s not like the guy is opposed to vice, or even opposed to directly profiting from it. If Trump never won the Presidency, you could easily seeing him open a cannabis lounge at one of his resorts. He’d make a fortune off of it! Perhaps Trump-brand spliffs in every convenience store nationwide could have been a possibility? We can speculate all day, but the fact of the matter is that Trump’s pedigree is not one of a hardcore marijuana prohibitionist.

Doubling down on federal enforcement of marijuana prohibition would make Trump look ridiculous. It would also go against his mandate as the jobs president. Marijuana is already one of America’s greatest cash crops. Strains are so potent and seeds such as the strawberry kush marijuana strain are available at such a low price that nobody is priced out of the market. Trump has promised a lasting prosperity that he would bring back to America. He has the chance to prove it with the cannabis industry. Cannabis can and should be crucial for making America great again.

Let’s not get ahead of ourselves though. The puritanical Christians in Trump’s base who still believe ‘Reefer Madness’ propaganda will likely keep Trump from being the first full-fledged cannabis President. Nevertheless, he will almost certainly not double-down on prohibition. That will allow the bustling market to continue thriving, and allow marijuana entrepreneurs to prosper. The DPA may want to scare donations out of you with fear-mongering and deceit, but there is nothing to be afraid of. The reefer genie is never going back into the federal bottle again.